Chapter 2

"Assuming I was to play this game-"

You have no choice but to play the game, William. The voices sounded hard now, impatient with him.

"Oh is that right?" He stared up at the ceiling stubbornly, wondering if it was possible to call the bluff of a group of advanced beings.

Yes. That is right.

For now, he decided he would indulge these beings. "Are there even any rules?"

There are three principles intrinsic to this game, William. The voices sounded delighted that he had seen reason. Maybe it was to his advantage, letting them know he was willing to play along.

"Which are..."

If you directly reveal the game to your friends, they will die…and so will you.

Riker backed up and sat down in the chair. "Go on."

If your friends come to sincerely doubt the authenticity of this world, it will end.

"And they'll die?"

There was a pause.

Yes. On the other hand, as they become comfortable inside their world, the only world they believe they have ever known, they will become inseparable from it, and you will not be able to retrieve them.

"And while all this is happening I have to keep them alive. That's it?"

More or less.

"This is all suggesting that I can control their actions somehow."

Control them, influence them... however you choose to proceed, William. But proceed you must.

"And if I don't?" Maybe he couldn't escape this prison, but they hadn't shown him yet they could harm him in any way. Was he willing to test his limits?

To do nothing will mean that you have no say in what we do to them...and how we run the game will be strictly our affair.

He sighed, leaning back in the chair. "If I wanted to communicate with my friends, then how exactly would I do that?"

Simply talk to them...it is not difficult.

"So I can't tell them they are part of a game, or we will all die. If they realize either on their own, or through my influence, that it is all a sham they die...and yet as long as they believe this box is a real world, then they will become trapped forever?"

There was a long pause before the voices entered the chamber again. You have re-stated the principles. There is nothing more we wish to add.

"But what will they have to survive?"

They have been allowed their preferred mode of clothing.

"Oh hey, great."

We could not read the mind of the android. But once we decided it should be allowed to participate, it was also allotted clothing.

"That is truly kind of you," said Riker, sure that his sarcasm was wasted.

We are nothing if not generous, William. We see inside their minds, and yours as well, which will make this game more interesting. Their minds may work for or against them. If they amuse us, they may be rewarded.

"And if they cease to amuse you?"

The voices fell silent again.

Riker began to feel a chill inside the chamber. And he was hungry. Almost instantly a table appeared in front of him. It was covered in his favorite foods and beverages. Hanging on the back of the chair was a parka, like one he would have worn growing up in Alaska. Trying to communicate that they have access to my every thought, I suppose.

He tried not to show his surprise or interest in the food even as his stomach growled. How long had he been here? Hours? Could have even been days. "Anything else I should know besides the fact that this game is inherently unfair?"

Each individual will have memory of his or her name. If they happen to have usable knowledge gained from past experiences, they will not know how or when they gained this knowledge. A complete memory wipe is nearly impossible even with our current technologies. Some things may seep through. But they will not know each other, which could present some additional challenges for you, William.

"And so they won't know who I am either? I mean, they won't recognize my voice."

No.

He was very cold and damp. He'd woken up in a cave, and knew immediately that he preferred the heat. The space inside the cave was very cramped. As he crawled on his hands and knees toward the rays of sunlight beaming into the entrance, the armor covering his shoulders and knees made satisfying clanking sounds. More than once he bumped his head as the roof of the cave grew lower and lower. Finally he reached the entrance, and dragged himself out into the warm heat of the sun. He breathed in the fresh air, and felt alive again. He ran sideways down the rocky slope, causing the ground to slide precariously under his boots. When he reached the bottom of the hill, he turned back to look up at the cave. Maybe a place to sleep if he became desperate for shelter. But he'd never really been desperate before...had he?

He dusted off the metal of his chest plate, and sniffed the air again. Something was approaching. Something that smelled like a carnivore. He let out a slow growl. His eyes searched the nearby landscape for a weapon. His gaze settled on a sharp object. It was a long knife with a gilded handle. Even from afar he could see ancient writing on its blade. He rushed toward the knife and tore it from the rubble, just as the immense creature appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and howled at him with gaping jaws full of razor sharp teeth. Worf let out a cry and rushed toward it.

Riker's eyes snapped open, and he flopped forward in the chair. His body was covered in a damp sweat. "Worf! ...I just saw Worf. He was fighting some kind of ...wild beast ."

But you did not intervene. You did not try to speak to him. Why?

"What do you mean 'why'? I thought you could read my mind."

Ah...now we see. This one enjoys danger. You did not intervene because he would not have wanted you to. This information will aid us in constructing more challenging games for Worf.

"No!" Riker jumped up from his chair. His legs felt shaky and weak, and his mind felt weaker. "I won't do this anymore. I refuse."

You disappoint us.

"Did we offend you in some way? If so, it was not our intent, I assure you. We're explorers, and we were just passing through your system. But now we see that we've disturbed you. It won't happen again. Now, if you put me and my crew back on our ship right now, I promise we can talk this through. But it's got to be on fair terms."

A cold silence enveloped the room.

"What do you want from us?" he demanded.

We told you, William...we merely want to play a game. Are you giving up already? We told you what will happen. Now, why not have something to eat, and then you will be strong enough to resume the game.

A short time later, Riker gave in and ate some of the food his captors left out for him. It was everything he could have hoped for of course, as it had been comprised of his favorite foods, carefully plucked from the corners of his psyche. How far, he wondered, would his alien captors go to keep him comfortable. How much did they want to keep him here? Did they need him to run the game? He was so satisfied after eating, and so exhausted, that he fell asleep on the floor. When he awoke, he was on a soft bed, completely comfortable. He was rejuvenated, seeing much more clearly now. He knew what he needed to do. He needed to contact the Captain.

Parched. Yes, that was the word, he was parched. He had no idea how many hours he had been walking through this desert, perhaps even it had been days. The only saving grace had been his wonderful hat. This blazing sun overhead would have scorched his bald head otherwise. The hat was an absolute blessing. The tie, the three piece suit, and trench coat on the other hand, were weighing him down now, stiff with as many layers of dried sweat as there seemed to be grains of sand etched into his face. His eyes burned with the wind and sand. Was it the same wind and sand that had smacked him repeatedly in the face miles earlier, only just to circle back around and torture him again? Yes, probably it was, he decided.

He stopped for a moment, and took his hat off, knelt down and balanced the fedora on his knee. It spun counterclockwise for half a turn before he caught it in his right hand tightly. "I do love you, hat," he whispered, examining it for a moment, before putting it back on his head.

"Oh dear... I think I'm losing my mind out here," he muttered, glancing around him. He squinted off into the distance. The distortion above the sand was almost musical, he now recognized. He coughed as the wind whipped into his face again. What he wouldn't give at this moment for the waves of sand to be replaced by an ocean.

He caught his hat with one hand as the ground beneath him gave way, and he slid chest deep into the sand. The sand he had so recently wished to become an ocean, had now transformed into one, and he was at risk of drowning. As the waves of sand sucked him under, he tried to flail his legs outward to keep afloat, but the sand that surrounded his submerged legs was impossibly heavy. He was pulled under and the sand filled his nostrils and mouth. Trying to remain in control of an uncontrollable situation, he threw himself forward and tried to swim as though he was in water.

Captain...

He threw his head to the side and tried to pull himself forward, coughing up the sand that scraped his throat raw.

Captain!

He continued to flail. His subconscious was talking to him, but it was making no sense. "Captain?" How the hell did that help anything? Captain who? Who was the Captain?

Captain, continue to swim forward. You're just two meters away from solid ground. Please, sir, just keep moving forward.

He threw himself forward violently, this time, feeling his legs ascend miraculously to the surface behind him. Captain, who's the Captain? Am I the Captain?

Yes, you're the Captain, said the voice.

"What?" He choked. He shouldn't be considering existential questions right now, he should be fighting for his life.

Keep swimming forward.

The fingertips of his right hand caught on a large rock, and then pulling himself forward, he managed to swing his knees up and catch a foothold.

He crawled up on to the sand, and lay face down, perhaps more sand than man now. He listened again for the voice, but it had departed his subconscious. Eventually he rolled over on his back, and coughed up a mouthful of sand. "I'm the Captain," he whispered up at the sun.

Once he had regained his strength, he trudged forward once again. But now with his hat gone, the sun was making him nearly stagger with dizziness. "Oh, my beloved hat..." Suddenly, it was in his hand, good as new. "Well...that never happened before," he remarked to the empty landscape in front of him, before slapping it back on his head.

Suddenly and remarkably he heard a delightful splashing sound up ahead. "Water...water!" He sprinted forward clumsily, nearly skidding over a ledge, that appeared in front of him. The water wasn't far enough down to deter him from jumping into the absolutely gorgeous pool of azure water. No, it was the presence of a person, swimming in the water below that stopped him.

Another person! For so long he had been the only person here...well anywhere, as far as he knew. But now he could see a woman with very long, very black hair. She was completely nude, and was frolicking in such a silly, oblivious way that made him wonder if she also had believed herself to be the only person on this planet. Suddenly she stopped swimming, and her head jerked around to look up toward him. How had she known he was there? He couldn't help but stare back at her. After all... She continued to stare upward at him with an obvious curiosity, and perhaps a kind of amusement. There were so many new things to ponder. But damn it, he was thirsty. So he took the plunge.